What I've Learned About Blogging, Take 2

Hey y'all! Happy Wednesday! It's actually not a very happy day for me. I got to work this morning and I locked my keys in my car - along with my purse, phone, and piping hot breakfast from Burger King. Oh, well. I didn't need the calories anyway.

I had some great comments on yesterday's post. If you haven't read it yet, be sure to click here to check it out. I wanted to answer a few of your questions, and I have a few others tips to share as well.

Jennifer, Cole, Sprinkles asked how to check your follower numbers through Google Reader. First you'll need to pull up the Google Reader homepage. In the search bar at the top of the screen, enter the name of your blog. It will pull up a list of different posts from different people. Scroll until you find a blog post from yourself. Click on your blog name (from My Chihuahua Bites, for example). It will pull up your stats and number of followers, giving you the option to follow your own blog. If this doesn't work for you, email me and I'll check for you.

Lindsay mentioned how important it is to make sure that you offer a full read version of your blog in Google Reader. Lindsay, I totally agree! This is one of my pet peeves. I read all the blogs I follow through Google Reader. If you don't allow me to read the full post from my reader, I don't follow your blog. The whole purpose of using a site like Google Reader is to make it easier and quicker for me to read blogs. I understand why people do this - they want the stats that come from people actually visiting their blog. However, I think you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Update: Check this in your dashboard. Click on settings --> site feed --> allow blog feeds --> full. 

Speaking of, if you aren't using Google Reader, please check it out. Blogger Dashboard is just not user friendly. Google Reader satisfies my need for organization and efficiency when reading blogs.

Mandy, while discussing her dislike of word verification, mentioned that there is nothing worse than leaving a comment & then seeing word verification. Mandy, you are right. If there is something worse than word verification, it is surprise word verification. I hate when I leave a long comment and click submit only to see that dang box of Satan pop up. I usually don't even see it until I x out of the screen, so that comment is lost. Seriously, y'all, try to leave a comment on your own blog and see how how feel. If you're annoyed by the steps you have to take, so are your readers.

Yesterday I mentioned the importance of having a email connected to your blog. I've heard several people say that the reason they don't do this is because they want to stay anonymous. I understand this. However, you could easily create a Yahoo! or Gmail email for your blog. It's free and it would be completely anonymous.

Another thing I thought of after I wrote that post yesterday is the importance of spelling and grammar while writing your posts. I don't mean you have to get an A++ in blogging. I'm not the spelling police. I frequently find typos in my posts when I read them after posting. I just think you should obey the basic rules of grammar - use paragraphs, use periods and commas, and run spell check before you publish. If there is one thing guaranteed to give me a headache, it is a long blog post with no breaks. Please use paragraphs! Paragraphs are our friends!

(Here's where I'm going to say something that's probably unpopular. Don't hate me. I do not like it when bloggers center text in their blog posts. Like the whole entire post is written this way. Why? It's unnatural. It's hard to read. Use this sparingly. Text starts from the left, not the center. It makes my eyeballs bleed. Please stop.)

One very important piece of advice I would give new bloggers is not to write negatively about your job or your family. I just don't think this is a good idea. Blogs are not private, even if you make them so. All it takes is one person to read your blog, copy what you say, and send it on to someone else. I'm not saying you can't talk about your family, but don't say things you wouldn't want to say to that person's face. I've seen things written about family members that make me cringe. Ask yourself - would it ruin my relationship if my MIL/best friend/co-worker read this later? If it would, edit yourself.

Be mindful of the fact that a lot of employers are now Googling potential employers before they are hired. What does your blog/Twitter/Facebook say about you? Can it be linked back to you? Google yourself and see what comes up.

I know I'm harping a lot on comments, and a lot of people would say that comments aren't the be all and end all of the blog world. No, they aren't. I can look at my stats and see people are visiting my blog. However, I like comments! They make me feel good! Don't they make you feel good? Maybe that makes me shallow and needy, but I am a person who needs people to comment on my blog in order to keep writing. If I spend hours on a post only to get 3 comments, I wonder what the point was in me writing at all. Towards the end of last year, I started the Ask a Mom series. I was really proud of those blog posts and I spent a lot of time writing them. However, I did not get a lot of comments. A lot of people mentioned on Twitter they liked reading them.... but they didn't comment. So I put that series on hold. Like everything else in life, everyone wants validation and praise. I'll be honest and admit that's a big reason I blog. I want people to like me and talk to me. If all I wanted was to document my life, I'd scrapbook. Blogging, to me, is all about the relationships I've made along the way.

Last thing - ignore everything I've said. :) Seriously - I'm no expert. Your blog is your blog, and if you feel passionately about word verification or centering text, go for it! My opinion is my own, and you should take it with a grain of salt. What I've written isn't meant to attack you or offend you. If it helps you, great! and if not, that's ok as well. The #1 rule of blogging is to blog for yourself. Who cares what I think?

Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chic wrote this great post on her blogging tips. Check it out!

I also broke my own rule - there were no pictures in this post. :) There are also several typos, I am sure. Ha!

Oh - last thing for real! If you have a PC, check out Windows Live Writer. (Google it.) It's a program you can download and use to write your blog posts. It will change your life! It is a bazillionty times better that using Blogger to write your post, and uploading pictures is a dream. Check check check it out!

Love you guys! xoxo!